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Meteorite fragment search. Researcher David Kring uses a metal detector to find scattered meteorite fragments. Meteorites are fragments of interplan- etary rock which fall to Earth. As it descends through the atmosphere, a meteorite might explode in mid-air, scattering thousands of fragments over an ellipse-shaped area several kilometres across. Many meteorite fragments contain high levels of metals such as iron or nickel, making them easy to find with a metal detector. Once discovered, the location of the fragment is noted and it is retrieved for analysis. The fragments and the distribution of their locations help scientists to determine how the meteorite broke up.